Any chance you could get me a picture of this crab, I am not familiar with it and would like to know what I am going to be looking for.
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Any chance you could get me a picture of this crab, I am not familiar with it and would like to know what I am going to be looking for.
Thank you, I located and visually checked mine, looks like it's in good shape (nothing melted or decayed)
Went ahead and bled all four corners and the fittings at the master, topped up the fluids and went for a test drive. Night and freaking day difference. Hell even the brake warning light on the dash is gone!
Next problem, while driving around the neighborhood the engine would stall upon letting off the throttle. It wasn't a long enough drive to warm the engine up completely. Also, the voltmeter in the dash is indicating that while running its just within the red, at idle (when it wouldn't stall) its indicating just over 1/2 on the gauge and I haven't hooked a proper multi-meter to get the actual reading. Any thoughts?
Low voltage can cause the ESS (Engine Stop Solenoid / Fuel shutoff, pink wire at the IP) to stop the fuel. Bad/failing batteries can allow the voltage to dip low enough at idle, even if the alternator is doing its job. Poor grounds, connections, or a failing ign. switch can do the same.
Since I don't have the RV at home, I am believing that this has three belts (alternator, power steering and AC comp), is that correct? I know it is not a serpentine.
Any recommendations on belts?
Whelp, went ahead and changed out the belts.
What we had intended, what we bought parts for, was to change the rear brake shoes, hardware and cylinders. Till I got the rear wheels off and realized just what it will take to pull the rear drums. Never worked on a dually axle, so the belts was kind of a consolation prize to do something productive.
So despite what I've read both here and other places online, including the troubleshooting manual I bought here, the secondary filter on my 83 G30 van is a square Stanadyne filter, and not a spin-on. The primary is a spin-on (NAPA 6232) but the one on my RV did not have a bleed nipple on it. PO used the wrong filter, go figure.
Sadly changing these did not fix my rough running/stalling/billowing white smoke problem. Checking for air is next, I am seeing a lot of rubber fuel line replacement in my future as most of what I saw underneath the chassis and in the engine bay was a mess.
Ok, help needed.
Replaced rubber fuel lines below the chassis, as well as both filters. Cracked the injectors loose and spun the engine until diesel wept from all eight, then retightened and reconnected the glow connectors. Stumbled for a moment then started right up and settled in to a vastly smoother idle. Idled for 5-7 minutes then stalled. Started right back up, stalls within 30 seconds, lots of white smoke. Over and over, initially I could rev the engine and keep it running longer, but eventually pressing the accelerator just killed the engine. My simple brain tells me the fuel pump is failing to keep pressure. I have the diesel manual from the forum bookstore, and I admit I am uncertain what each pump does (main and lift pump), nor where to locate them. There is a small electric inline pump below the engine on the passenger side, would this be the lift pump, or perhaps did a PO install this (the wiring for it is kinda sloppy)?
Thanks for your help.
Howdy
Lift pump pulls fuel from your tank and "lifts" it to the IP=injector pump(main).
The IP is located in the intake valley and would be where all your lines come from. If this van has the original pump and injectors then it might be due for a rebuild of both. I have never had a 6.2 fail likes your does because of worn pump or injectors. Performance normally gets so bad that they get rebuilt before they completely fail. A common issue is not starting hot or hard starting all the time. Sounds like yours wants to start and then dies.
My 1984 van only has the square filter on the back of the engine. I would suspect that if you have another type of round filter that it was an after thought by someone. I don't think they ever came with both a square filter and a round filter.
I think the 6.2s that came with two spin on filters had one located in the intake valley rear and one on the fender wall. Not sure how that would locate on your RV.
Your van SHOULD have a mechanical lift pump that runs and looks just like the fuel pump on older gas job GM motors: mounted on the front of the engine block low on the passenger side. If there is an electric inline pump it was added either as way of priming the system for any number of reasons or as a "simpler" fix to the mechanical lift pump failing. Some people put them inline with the mechanical pump. Unless you have an oil pressure shut off for the electric pump, it is a bad idea.
IMHO, the lighting problem sounds like a ground or fixture problem (if the crab is good). Could possibly be the wiring from the crab to the flat connector under the column. maybe something is shorted in there from a PO doing some work in the column.
Hope this helps!
Good luck.
Sounds like your fuel system has been extensively "modified" If it was mine I would start by simplifying that. Get back to one good filter(square) and one good mechanical pump with unspliced lines.
As to the voltage issue, I would first put a meter on it before you get to concerned. The factory gauges are not the best.
Excellent info, thank you for your response.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dvldog8793
Since this is an RV assembled on a G30 chassis by a coachbuilder, I assume that a lot of what I am seeing is atypical from normal G-series vans and other Chevy trucks of the era, so some of this will be muddling along trying to piece together where things are. From what I can tell, the spin-on primary filter assembly is original, as the rubber lines to and from the filter bracket were embedded within the spray foam insulation beneath the floor deck. Likewise the square filter behind the intake in the valley, it looks like this was original equipment. Who knows, maybe the builder bought a batch of '83 & '84 engines and cobbled things together to make them all the same. Regardless, from what I have read the dual filter setup is better than the single Stanadyne 80 filter so I will likely keep it as is unless I want to swap in a Racor or something. I am happy to take some pictures, but if this square secondary filter was an adaptation, it was done a long time ago based on the condition of the hard & rubber lines to it.
Now, the electric pump beneath the engine appears much newer than anything else on this RV, so that leads me to believe that yes, someone was having fueling problems and added it in to supplement the OEM lift pump. In an effort to "get back to the beginning", it makes sense to me to take this aftermarket pump out, and test the mechanical lift pump and IP to determine if they require a rebuild/replace then see where that leaves me. the aftermarket one is fed through a 30a relay just above the brake booster, and the wiring is just kind hanging around the engine bay. If I add it back into the fuel circuit, I would clean up the installation regardless.
One other thing with fueling, once we got this thing running a few months ago, since the fuel gauge wasn't responding I decided to add 10 gallons if fresh diesel just to make sure we wouldn't run dry somewhere, but we only got maybe 6-7 gallons before the tank was full, meaning there was somewhere between 20-25 gallons of who-knows-how-old fuel in the tank when we got it. And now we have a full tank to drop and drain. :( I can only imagine what the age and condition of this fuel is doing to the system.
As for the lighting, my daughter's boyfriend and I worked on this the other day, and it appears that a ground has gone bad. There is quite a bit of rust on the rear end of the chassis and several loose wires back there; by patching an extra ground at the flat plug behind the driver's seat we were able to light up the high wattage side of the taillights.
To the voltage question, once I got the belts tightened correctly (man that is tighter than I am used to) the dash voltage gauge is reading just above midway, so that is right where I want it.
Howdy
Possible that you have a serious bad fuel issue and that would explain allot of your symptoms. . I would first try a separate fuel tank, maybe a boat tank or some other source, and see if that fixes everything. Then go to the remove the tank option.
As it so happens there is a small boat tank inside, I think the PO had it to run the generator as the original generator tank had rusted through. Unfortunately he took the genset with him when he sold it, but hey, free gas tank.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dvldog8793
I will give that a try, but regardless I think we will need to drop the main tank to rehab the sending unit (the dash fuel gauge reads beyond full all the time).
If you do have scum in your tank it is likely that you will need to replace the filters again.
Yeah, this had occurred to me. Filters are cheap, relatively speaking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dvldog8793
This is my current lift pump configuration (sorry for the crappy picture). So the OEM pump was disconnected and an inline electric pump has been added. A replacement mechanical pump is $15 at Rockauto, considering my potential fueling problems is there any reason I shouldn't just go back to the OEM setup? I figure GM engineer's designed it with the mechanical pump for a reason, who am I to contradict them?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psvxoukm2x.jpg
Howdy
IMHO- The mechanical pump is the best route for this application.
It is just-as if not more reliable than the electric. IF you use the electric you need to have a safety system built in so that when the engine shuts down(other than the key) it shuts off the fuel. If not, then in a possible accident or other situation, it will be draining your fuel tank all over the place.
Get good mechanical pump, clean the tank(replace???) verify fuel lines, replace filters again and the see what happens.
Ditch the electric.
The only benefits to the electric pump are when you replace the filters it is easier to prime the system and if you have a weak injection pump the electric lift pump can help with starting. Neither of these benefits are something that is worth the hassle and dangers of a properly installed electric pump SYSTEM....imho.
FYI- If you have nasty fuel in the tank, its very possible that it sat in the injection pump as well and could have some issues.
Cool, thanks. I figured it was cheap insurance to go back to the factory setup.
Lift pump replacement day. The PO (one of them) had installed this electric pump inline and left the OEM one just hanging there, useless and neglected. The wiring to it was pretty sloppy. Maybe this is a part of my stalling problems, better to go back to the engineered condition and start from there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psvxoukm2x.jpg
New pump vs old one.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...scmxk6xvb.jpeg
Clean gasket surfaces and new handmade bracket gasket (the pump came with the pump gasket, but not one for the bracket).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...sw3yv7srl.jpeg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...snqckcsgg.jpeg
I know what you are thinking, where is the rod? Rest assured it went back in, from reading here and in the book I slopped a bunch of grease on it and it held itself deep into its pocket well enough to get the pump lever underneath it when I installed it.
Replaced the rubber inlet hose with new. Since the outlet pipe was connected to the inline pump, the PO had cut off the flare to make the rubber hose connection. So, I had to flare the end with the line in place, no small task. My forearms are killing me but I got it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...savo8mltl.jpeg
Fully installed, now I get to bleed air out of the injectors again, but I needed a break to eat something.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...svv9sdfcq.jpeg
Annnnd the batteries were too dead to crank the engine enough to bleed air through the injectors. Back on the charger it goes...:mad:
Sombitch, now the glow plugs aren't lighting up. My daughter's boyfriend was swapping burned out fuses the other day, I fear that he took the glow plug fuse out.